The duo has instead nurtured the most bitter feud in boxing, sparring from afar with invectives and accusations over whether Margarito used plaster-enforced hand wraps in his 2008 knockout of Cotto.

At the stroke of midnight Sunday, Madison Square Garden was the destination for the rematch between the two, and revenge came for Cotto in the form of a technical knockout. Margarito's right eye -- as much a storyline heading into the bout as Cotto's allegations of "criminal" behavior -- swelled shut and Anthony Curreri, the physician in Margarito's corner, ordered referee Steve Smoger to end the fight as the 10th round was to begin. The protests and pleadings of Margarito and his corner would not sway the decision.

Cotto retained his World Boxing Association junior middleweight title belt, but the history between the fighters rendered the title secondary in the eyes of many. The victory for both men came in punishing -- and hurting -- the other, such was the animosity between them.

Instead of the brutality, though, the 21,239 people at the soldout Garden saw brilliance from Cotto (37-2). He answered many of the questions that lingered from his first match with Margarito (38-8) -- his first professional loss -- and after the match said vindication came from looking in the mirror.

"Everyone can see how my face looks and how I got out of the ring tonight rather than in 2008," said Cotto, his face kissed with minor bruises. He said the evidence that Margarito used illegal handwraps in 2008 could be perceived from the fact "my face looks a lot different."

For Cotto, the smart plan was the simple plan. He attacked the right side of Margarito's face from the first bell. Cotto's movement was ceaseless through all nine rounds. He stayed near the inner portion of the ring, off the ropes where Margarito smothered and bludgeoned Cotto in their first fight.

Cotto's trainer, Pedro Diaz, said before the match that his fighter would be conditioned to fight 24 rounds, if necessary. Cotto spent just 27 minutes in the ring instead, but his energy level was noticeably high and he led 89-82 on all three scorecards when the fight ended.

"I wanted to do what I did today," Cotto said, "to do the job right, the way it should be done."

As in the onset of the first fight, Cotto combined action with accuracy. He punched less frequently than Margarito -- only 493 times to 700 -- but his movement dictated the tempo of the bout and when he unloaded his hands, Cotto connected. He landed 210 punches in all, an astounding 148 of 293 power punches.

His primary weapon, the left hook, dented Margarito again and again. The crowd, so favorable toward the Puerto Rican Cotto it drowned the Mexican national anthem in boos before the match, buzzed every time Cotto connected on his Mexican opponent like the fight was taking place in Cotto's living room. They understood that Margarito's right eye -- the eye socket that Manny Pacquiao fractured during his relentless assault of Margarito in November 2009 -- would be sensitive to Cotto's noxious fist.

Early in the third round, a left jab from Cotto sliced across Margarito's face and blood began to seep from his eyelid and run down his cheek. In the first bout, when Margarito absorbed a sustained array of punches from Cotto, he did not bleed. Sunday, as Margarito's corner worked to stem the cut above his right eye round after round, the fighter seemed invigorated.

Margarito matched Cotto's pointed attacks with a rugged defiance. He smiled often after Cotto popped his face. After one exchange in the fourth round, after another Cotto combination ended with -- predictably -- a left hook to the right eye, Margarito screamed "Yeah baby" as a mix of sweat, blood and spit sprayed and filled the space between the two fighters.

If anything, as he did against Pacquiao, Margarito reaffirmed himself as one of the toughest men in the sport, the latest in a long line of Mexican brawlers who would stay in the ring until they shut down the house lights -- and even then it would take some coaxing to leave.

Margarito said he felt no pain from Cotto's blows, not in his eye, which received 12 stitches to close the gash Cotto opened in Round 3, or anywhere else on his body. Margarito said his physician, after the fight, examined his surgically repaired eye and concluded Margarito suffered no worrisome damage

After the ninth round, the ring physician asked Margarito three times how many fingers he was holding up, a test of whether the eye was swollen closed. Three times, Margarito said, he gave the correct answer.

Ultimately, Margarito's body could not match his unbending will. And he could no longer match Cotto as a result.

In the ring afterwards, Cotto's mother approached Margarito. She asked the challenger if he still thought her son hit like a girl, which Margarito had stated in the fight's buildup.

Margarito responded his mind was unchanged. Defeat had not convinced him otherwise.

"It was a copy of the first fight," he said. "If they didn't stop the fight, it would have been another thing.

"I felt like the last few rounds were going to be my rounds. All we asked for was one more round."